A Process Focused on Innovation
We believe there is considerably greater value during the research process in utilizing a more qualitative and strategic lens based on our belief that Innovation + Evolution = Opportunity.
One of the most important contributions Thomas Edison made was the concept of the industrial research laboratory, where he brought together experts across diverse fields. Talented scientists worked collaboratively to create numerous new inventions and innovations that changed our world.
Our investment team focuses on what we call the innovation frontier to find the root causes of growth, change, and, ultimately, evolution of industries. We do this by reading trade journals, attending industry conferences and events, talking with industry experts, and connecting with industry associations. Ultimately, we build a proprietary Innovation + Evolution List, which catalogues what we believe are important innovations and secular trends across many industries and sectors.
In analyzing important innovations on the innovation frontier and understanding the strategic implications of various industry trends, we identify those companies that we believe are in the leading vanguard of driving these innovations – the leading beneficiaries – and track these in a proprietary Innovator List. The Innovator List of leading companies developing key innovations is the primary universe from which we source ideas for our portfolios.
Types of innovations that we believe contribute to sustainable growth include: 1) Technological innovation, 2) Product innovation, 3) Service or Experience innovation, 4) Process or Cost innovation, 5) Brand or Marketing innovation, 6) Organizational innovation, and 7) Business Model innovation. An important part of our research process is evaluating each firm's ability to build an innovation moat around its innovations through the development of competitive advantages.
